By the late 1970s, Guangdong’s industrial and skills base was more rural, less geographically concentrated, and less dominated by traditional light industry than it had been at the time of the ...
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By the late 1970s, Guangdong’s industrial and skills base was more rural, less geographically concentrated, and less dominated by traditional light industry than it had been at the time of the Revolution. The expansion of manufacturing capability in rural Guangdong under Mao provided the province with a solid foundation for the industrialization of the 1980s and 1990s. Inflows of foreign investment and foreign trade undoubtedly helped to promote growth in Guangdong, much more than in other Chinese provinces. Nevertheless, the pivotal role played by Guangdong’s Maoist inheritance is apparent. Even in this coastal province, where the flows of foreign capital and migrant labour were enormous, inherited industrial capability was a key influence on the rural industrial growth rate.Less

Guangdong

Chris Bramall

Published in print: 2006-12-01

By the late 1970s, Guangdong’s industrial and skills base was more rural, less geographically concentrated, and less dominated by traditional light industry than it had been at the time of the Revolution. The expansion of manufacturing capability in rural Guangdong under Mao provided the province with a solid foundation for the industrialization of the 1980s and 1990s. Inflows of foreign investment and foreign trade undoubtedly helped to promote growth in Guangdong, much more than in other Chinese provinces. Nevertheless, the pivotal role played by Guangdong’s Maoist inheritance is apparent. Even in this coastal province, where the flows of foreign capital and migrant labour were enormous, inherited industrial capability was a key influence on the rural industrial growth rate.

The foundations for the rapid growth of rural industry in China after 1978 were laid out during the Maoist era. Although much of China’s Maoist industry was inefficient, its workers acquired a vast ...
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The foundations for the rapid growth of rural industry in China after 1978 were laid out during the Maoist era. Although much of China’s Maoist industry was inefficient, its workers acquired a vast array of skills via the process of learning-by-doing and by the diffusion of skills from urban areas. Policy changes after 1978 certainly added to the effectiveness of this inheritance. The Chinese evidence points inescapably to the conclusion that learning and skills development are essential pre-conditions for rapid rural industrialization in poor countries.Less

Conclusion

Chris Bramall

Published in print: 2006-12-01

The foundations for the rapid growth of rural industry in China after 1978 were laid out during the Maoist era. Although much of China’s Maoist industry was inefficient, its workers acquired a vast array of skills via the process of learning-by-doing and by the diffusion of skills from urban areas. Policy changes after 1978 certainly added to the effectiveness of this inheritance. The Chinese evidence points inescapably to the conclusion that learning and skills development are essential pre-conditions for rapid rural industrialization in poor countries.

Insurgencies, especially in the form of guerrilla warfare, continue to erupt across many parts of the globe. Most of these rebellions fail, but this book analyzes four twentieth-century conflicts in ...
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Insurgencies, especially in the form of guerrilla warfare, continue to erupt across many parts of the globe. Most of these rebellions fail, but this book analyzes four twentieth-century conflicts in which the success of the insurgents permanently altered the global political arena: the Maoists in China against Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s; the Viet Minh in French Indochina from 1945 to 1954; Castro's followers against Batista in Cuba from 1956 to 1959; and the mujahideen in Soviet Afghanistan from 1980 to 1989. The book illuminates patterns of failed counterinsurgencies that include serious but avoidable political and military blunders and makes clear the critical and often decisive influence of the international setting.Less

Victorious Insurgencies : Four Rebellions that Shaped Our World

Anthony James Joes

Published in print: 2010-10-20

Insurgencies, especially in the form of guerrilla warfare, continue to erupt across many parts of the globe. Most of these rebellions fail, but this book analyzes four twentieth-century conflicts in which the success of the insurgents permanently altered the global political arena: the Maoists in China against Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese in the 1930s and 1940s; the Viet Minh in French Indochina from 1945 to 1954; Castro's followers against Batista in Cuba from 1956 to 1959; and the mujahideen in Soviet Afghanistan from 1980 to 1989. The book illuminates patterns of failed counterinsurgencies that include serious but avoidable political and military blunders and makes clear the critical and often decisive influence of the international setting.

Historians and anthropologists have long been interested in South China where powerful lineages and gendered hierarchies are juxtaposed with unorthodox trading cultures, multi-ethnic colonial ...
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Historians and anthropologists have long been interested in South China where powerful lineages and gendered hierarchies are juxtaposed with unorthodox trading cultures, multi-ethnic colonial encounters, and market-driven consumption. The divergent paths taken by women in Hong Kong and Guangdong during thirty years of Maoist closure, and the post-reform cross-border fluidities have also gained analytical attention. This book provides further theoretical application of a “regional construct” that appreciates process, transcends definitive powers of administrative borders, and brings out nuanced gender notions. The book uses fine-grained historical and ethnographic materials to map out three crucial historical junctures in the evolution of South China, from late imperial to contemporary periods that have significantly shaped the construction of gendered space. Stressing process and human agency, this book uses women's experiences to challenge dichotomous analytical perspectives on lineage patriarchy, colonial institutions, power, and social activism. The book refocuses attention on cultural dynamics in the South China region of which Hong Kong is an integral part, and illuminates the analytical importance of long historical periods in which layers of social, political, and economic activities intersected to constitute the complicated positioning of women.Less

Helen F. Siu

Published in print: 2010-06-01

Historians and anthropologists have long been interested in South China where powerful lineages and gendered hierarchies are juxtaposed with unorthodox trading cultures, multi-ethnic colonial encounters, and market-driven consumption. The divergent paths taken by women in Hong Kong and Guangdong during thirty years of Maoist closure, and the post-reform cross-border fluidities have also gained analytical attention. This book provides further theoretical application of a “regional construct” that appreciates process, transcends definitive powers of administrative borders, and brings out nuanced gender notions. The book uses fine-grained historical and ethnographic materials to map out three crucial historical junctures in the evolution of South China, from late imperial to contemporary periods that have significantly shaped the construction of gendered space. Stressing process and human agency, this book uses women's experiences to challenge dichotomous analytical perspectives on lineage patriarchy, colonial institutions, power, and social activism. The book refocuses attention on cultural dynamics in the South China region of which Hong Kong is an integral part, and illuminates the analytical importance of long historical periods in which layers of social, political, and economic activities intersected to constitute the complicated positioning of women.

Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth ...
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Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, China perceived itself to be the victim in an unjust world of aggressive, powerful, Western states. Contemporary Chinese perceptions of a just international order have been shaped by such past experiences and encompass a strong element of restitution. Its justice claims start with the Chinese state itself rather than with the needs of a broader global community.Less

An Uneasy Engagement: Chinese Ideas of Global Order and Justice in Historical Perspective

Rana Mitter

Published in print: 2003-02-13

Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, China perceived itself to be the victim in an unjust world of aggressive, powerful, Western states. Contemporary Chinese perceptions of a just international order have been shaped by such past experiences and encompass a strong element of restitution. Its justice claims start with the Chinese state itself rather than with the needs of a broader global community.

The theoretical tradition to which Charu Mazumdar himself links his speculations is the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist. In the materialist metaphysic of these schools, what Mazumdar wants to bring about is ...
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The theoretical tradition to which Charu Mazumdar himself links his speculations is the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist. In the materialist metaphysic of these schools, what Mazumdar wants to bring about is the New Democratic revolution. This is to establish the rule of the vast majority of the nation, composed specifically of the peasantry, the proletariat, the petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie, upsetting the rule of the landlords, the comprador bourgeoisie, the US imperialists, and the Soviet social-imperialists, who constitute a tiny minority. The terminology in which what became for Mazumdar Jotedar-rajya was codified, defined India as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial country. This chapter also considers the initial formulations of revolution in terrorist tracts. Mazumdar’s view of the revolution is unarmed peasants turning ferociously on their armed oppressors, killing them and snatching their weapons to found an army that will liberate the whole country.Less

The Existential Ideology of the Naxalites

Rabindra Ray

Published in print: 2012-04-05

The theoretical tradition to which Charu Mazumdar himself links his speculations is the Marxist–Leninist–Maoist. In the materialist metaphysic of these schools, what Mazumdar wants to bring about is the New Democratic revolution. This is to establish the rule of the vast majority of the nation, composed specifically of the peasantry, the proletariat, the petty bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie, upsetting the rule of the landlords, the comprador bourgeoisie, the US imperialists, and the Soviet social-imperialists, who constitute a tiny minority. The terminology in which what became for Mazumdar Jotedar-rajya was codified, defined India as a semi-feudal, semi-colonial country. This chapter also considers the initial formulations of revolution in terrorist tracts. Mazumdar’s view of the revolution is unarmed peasants turning ferociously on their armed oppressors, killing them and snatching their weapons to found an army that will liberate the whole country.

This chapter focuses on Butler's writings after the Second World War and his efforts to confront the impact of totalitarian thought on Western society. It offers close readings of some of his most ...
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This chapter focuses on Butler's writings after the Second World War and his efforts to confront the impact of totalitarian thought on Western society. It offers close readings of some of his most prominent post‐war writings, and in the process, introduces his preoccupation with exposing the compulsory conversion campaign waged against Orthodox Serbs in Croatia during the war. It accounts for how this concern led to the most traumatic experience of his public life, the so‐called ‘Papal Nuncio Incident’ of 1952. It explores his concern with the creeping anonymity of modern life, exploited by totalitarian regimes before and during the war but also evident after the war in the capitalist West. His travels in China in the fifties, as well as in Europe and the USA in the sixties, confirmed for him this assessment.Less

Christianity, Mass Society, and Cold War, 1945–72

Robert Tobin

Published in print: 2012-01-05

This chapter focuses on Butler's writings after the Second World War and his efforts to confront the impact of totalitarian thought on Western society. It offers close readings of some of his most prominent post‐war writings, and in the process, introduces his preoccupation with exposing the compulsory conversion campaign waged against Orthodox Serbs in Croatia during the war. It accounts for how this concern led to the most traumatic experience of his public life, the so‐called ‘Papal Nuncio Incident’ of 1952. It explores his concern with the creeping anonymity of modern life, exploited by totalitarian regimes before and during the war but also evident after the war in the capitalist West. His travels in China in the fifties, as well as in Europe and the USA in the sixties, confirmed for him this assessment.

Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, South and East Asia

The orthodoxy has long dismissed the notion that Maoist economic development helped lay the foundations for subsequent economic growth in China. However, as this chapter notes in introducing the ...
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The orthodoxy has long dismissed the notion that Maoist economic development helped lay the foundations for subsequent economic growth in China. However, as this chapter notes in introducing the proximate sources of growth discussed in this and the next six chapters, there is a body of research that points to the positive legacies of the Maoist era in terms of education, transport, and irrigation. Most of this literature takes the view that the Chinese economy in the late Maoist era had enormous potential but was under‐performing because of structural weaknesses and incentive failures. The new policies of the transition era had the effect of unlocking this potential.Less

The Maoist Legacy and the Literature

Chris Bramall

Published in print: 2000-09-14

The orthodoxy has long dismissed the notion that Maoist economic development helped lay the foundations for subsequent economic growth in China. However, as this chapter notes in introducing the proximate sources of growth discussed in this and the next six chapters, there is a body of research that points to the positive legacies of the Maoist era in terms of education, transport, and irrigation. Most of this literature takes the view that the Chinese economy in the late Maoist era had enormous potential but was under‐performing because of structural weaknesses and incentive failures. The new policies of the transition era had the effect of unlocking this potential.

Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, South and East Asia

Here we outline the extent of the physical and human capital legacies from the Maoist era. One such legacy was a well‐developed irrigation system, much of which was completed in the late 1960s and ...
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Here we outline the extent of the physical and human capital legacies from the Maoist era. One such legacy was a well‐developed irrigation system, much of which was completed in the late 1960s and 1970s. The industrial legacy was more mixed, mainly because much of the investment of the 1960s and 1970s was channelled into the defence sector, especially Third Front projects in western China. Nevertheless, transition‐era China inherited extensive stocks of industrial capital, as well as transport infrastructure. Perhaps most importantly of all, the Maoist development strategy was successful in vastly increasing rural literacy rates and thus creating a potential industrial workforce.Less

Social Capability and the Capital Stock at the End of the Maoist Era

Chris Bramall

Published in print: 2000-09-14

Here we outline the extent of the physical and human capital legacies from the Maoist era. One such legacy was a well‐developed irrigation system, much of which was completed in the late 1960s and 1970s. The industrial legacy was more mixed, mainly because much of the investment of the 1960s and 1970s was channelled into the defence sector, especially Third Front projects in western China. Nevertheless, transition‐era China inherited extensive stocks of industrial capital, as well as transport infrastructure. Perhaps most importantly of all, the Maoist development strategy was successful in vastly increasing rural literacy rates and thus creating a potential industrial workforce.

Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental, South and East Asia

A prime mover in post‐1978 Chinese growth was the high rate of investment. As this chapter shows, the late Maoist investment rate was exceptionally high in the late 1970s by the standards of ...
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A prime mover in post‐1978 Chinese growth was the high rate of investment. As this chapter shows, the late Maoist investment rate was exceptionally high in the late 1970s by the standards of developing countries. The bulk of this investment was funded from domestic savings; foreign direct investment, the contributions of the overseas Chinese, and foreign borrowing contributed almost nothing to Maoist investment.Less

The Rates of Saving and Investment

Chris Bramall

Published in print: 2000-09-14

A prime mover in post‐1978 Chinese growth was the high rate of investment. As this chapter shows, the late Maoist investment rate was exceptionally high in the late 1970s by the standards of developing countries. The bulk of this investment was funded from domestic savings; foreign direct investment, the contributions of the overseas Chinese, and foreign borrowing contributed almost nothing to Maoist investment.